JONES
,
JACK
(
1884
-
1970
),
author and playwright
;
b.
24 Nov. 1884
, at
Tai Harry Blawd
,
Merthyr Tydfil, Glam.
, the eldest of nine who survived of the fifteen children born to his mother,
Sarah Ann
, and his father,
David
, a
miner
. Educated at
St. David's elementary school
,
Merthyr Tydfil
, he left school at the age of twelve to work with his father
at the coal-face
. From
1902 to 1906
, he was a regular
soldier
, serving in
South Africa
and
India
before resuming work as a
miner
at
Merthyr Tydfil
. In
1908
, he married (1)
Laura GrimesEvans
of
Builth Wells
. By the outbreak of war in
1914
he was employed at a colliery near
Pontypool
because he found that his small wage as a
bark-stripper
at
Builth
was insufficient to keep himself, his wife, two sons and a daughter. As a
member of the army reserve
, he was called up immediately: he was
mentioned in dispatches
from
France
and later wounded. By
1921
, the birth of two more sons had completed his family. In the same year his
Miners' Federation lodge
at
Pontypool
sent him as a delegate to the
formation Conference of the British Communist Party
held at
Manchester
: there he was chosen as
temporary corresponding secretary for the South Wales coalfield
. For months he sought to establish a branch of the
Communist Party
at
Merthyr Tydfil
, and in
August 1921
he gave active support to the
Communist parliamentary candidate
for the
Caerphilly
constituency. When he was appointed
full-time secretary-representative of the miners
at
Blaengarw
in
1923
he joined the
Labour Party
, but criticism of his controversial first article for the press, ‘
The Need for a Lib-Lab Coalition
’, resulted, towards the end of
1927
, in his resignation from the post at
Blaengarw
and he moved from
Bridgend
to
Cardiff
. After spending over a year as a member of
Lloyd George
's staff of speakers on the
Liberal
platform, in
1929
he was defeated in the election as
Liberal candidate
for
Neath
. Following a further few months as a
speaker for the Liberals
and a visit to
Geneva
as their observer at an
International Labour Office conference
, by
1930
he was unemployed. During the next five years he strove to earn his living in a number of ways — as a
platform-speaker
for
Mosley
's
New Party
, a
salesman
, a
navvy
, an
assistant cinema-manager
, an
enumerator
, and as a
writer
.

By
1939
, he had become a
naturalistic author
of note among the
Anglo-Welsh
school of writers: his works had circulated widely — three novels (
Rhondda Roundabout
,
1934
,
Black Parade
,
1935
,
Bidden to the Feast
,
1938
), a play (
Land of My Fathers
,
1937
) and the first volume of his autobiography (
Unfinished Journey
,
1937
). A short run of the stage-version of
Rhondda Roundabout
on
Shaftesbury Avenue
added to his fame. The film,
Proud Valley
, for which he wrote the dialogue and in which he took a small part, also appeared at this time. In
Wales
he was well-known to many audiences as a
radio personality
and as a
speaker
.

Most of his time during
World War II
was taken up with
making speeches
— sometimes with a brief introduction in
Welsh
— on behalf of the
Ministry of Information
and the
National Savings Movement
, and in
preparing radio-scripts and articles
.

He accepted a minor role in another film. Between
August 1941 and the end of 1942
, he
undertook two exhausting
lecture-tours
in the
United States
and
Canada
, and later he
visited troops on the European battlefronts
, in
Belgium
and
Holland
in
1944
, in
Italy
in
1945
. He also produced
The Man David
(
1944
), ‘an imaginary presentation, based on fact, of the life of
DavidLloyd George
from
1880 to 1914
’. In the general election of
1945
he supported the candidature of
Conservative
,
SirJamesGrigg
. This was the fifth change in his political allegiance, but throughout his life his philosophy was based on left-wing ideas with a childlike religious faith.

From
1946 to 1951
, he again applied himself to
authorship
with the publication of another two volumes of autobiography (
Me and Mine
,
1946
and
Give Me Back My Heart
,
1950
), three new novels (
Off to Philadelphia in the Morning
,
1947
,
Some Trust in Chariots
,
1948
, and
River out of Eden
,
1951
) and a play (
Transatlantic Episode
,
1947
). His son,
Lawrence
, was killed in action in
1942
; in
1946
, his wife,
Laura
, died, and in
1948
his son,
David
. For his services to the community and his achievements in literature, in
1948
he was made a
CBE
. In the same year he became an adherent of the
Moral Re-Armament Movement
; he spoke in support of its ideals in
Cardiff
and at other centres in
Wales
; and in
1949
he spent three months in the
United States
promoting the cause.

Compared with much of his earlier work, his five novels of the
1950sLily of the Valley
and
Lucky Lear
,
1952
,
Time and the Business
,
1953
,
Choral Symphony
,
1955
and
Come Night: End Day
,
1956
, reveal a sharp decline in literary standards. In
1954
, he married (2)
GladysMorgan
, a
library-assistant
in
Rhiwbina
. He was elected
first president of the English section
of
Yr Academi Gymreig
; and, in
February 1970
, he received an award from the
Welsh Arts Council
for his distinguished contribution to the literature of
Wales
. Still prolific in his
writing
, from
1956
to his death on
7 May, 1970
, he continued to
produce novels, plays, autobiography, biography
; but none was published. The manuscripts are preserved in the
National Library
. Although his work varied widely in quality,
Black Parade
and
Off to Philadelphia in the Morning
have sufficient merit to make him an
author
of stature, while
Bidden to the Feast
and
Unfinished Journey
are two of the finest works in the whole of
Anglo-Welsh
literature.